4. Ask for a quote

Download our guide

5 steps to more profitable and cleaner paint stripping

Blog

September 26, — Case study

The system that keeps P. Jacques saving labor everyday

CASE STUDY

A leading Alloy Wheel Refinisher removed the bottle neck linked with paint stripping and increased overall productivity of its operations by changing over to GREENSOLV WheelStrip 273WL. At the same time they got rid of a highly toxic stripper and replaced it with this much greener option.

INTRODUCTION

P.JACQUES is the largest alloy wheel refinisher in Canada processing over 150 wheels per day. They offer a top quality service to their customers by stripping, sanding, repairing and repainting almost all of their wheels. They employ around 40 staff and have been in business since the 1990's.

SITUATION

In 2007, P.JACQUES was using a nasty paint stripper based on methylene chloride (or dichloromethane DCM), phenol and formic acid. These are three very toxic substances that, when mixed together, burn the skin on contact. Moreover, this chemical (efficient mainly when brand new ) could not strip European alloy wheels (BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, etc.) properly. These tough-to-strip wheels were being left as long as two days in the strip tank, taking the space of other wheels that needed to be stripped and slowing down the whole process.

THE GREENSOLV SOLUTION

A Needs Analysiswas completed between GREENSOLV and P.JAQUES.

Lab testswere performed to confirm the efficiency of WheelStrip 273WL on the tough-to-strip rims.

A field trialwas conducted using a 100 gallon (400 Litre) heated strip tank for a period of 2 months.

A highly efficient 400 gallon strip tank was designed and built by P.JACQUES’ team to start using WheelStrip 273WL in 2008.

As a result, all wheels were now being stripped in 30 to 90 minutes, including the tough BMW and Mercedes alloy rims.

With GREENSOLV’s Efficiency Program, the WheelStrip solution was analysed regularly and always kept its high efficiency over the years. The stripping times are predictable and constant since 2008.

In 2013, to accommodate the growing production, a second 400 gallon strip tank was built with new and improve features.

They now strip 150+ rims per dayin only 7 hours.

CONCLUSION

Since the change of chemical in 2008, P.JACQUES was able to grow bigger and become more profitable after the bottle neck in production was removed. They now have a greener alternative that does not burn the skin and offers short and predictable stripping times.